Hydrofoil attachment for boats

ABSTRACT

A hydrofoil attachment, preferably collapsible, is provided, for use with an inflatable boat. It comprises a frame, usually a four-sided frame, into which the boat fits, and preferably the boat on inflation fits tight into the frame so that the two are held together. Hydrofoils are attached to the frame at various locations, but they are usually found at the corners of the frame.

nited States Patent 1191 Weihe 1451 May 14, 1974 [54] .HYDROFOIL ATTACHMENT FOR BOATS 3.395.664 8/1968 Greenberg et 111. 1 14 43 2,4 0 1 1 0 l [75] Inventor: Don L. Weihe, Bath, Ohio 3 4; 038 6/1329 ci yyatc ls 9/2 A [73] Assignee: The Firestone Tire & Rubber FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Company, Akron, Ohio 1,420,478 11/1965 France 114/665 H [22] Filed: Oct. 21, 1970 Appl. No.: 82,840

[52] [1.5. CI. 9/2 R, 9/2 A. 114/665 H [51] Int. Cl B63b 7/00 [58] Field of Search 114/61, 126, 122,665 11; 9/2 A, 2 C, 2 F

[56] I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,204,261 9/1965 Garehime 9/2 C 2,531,549 11/1950 Boyd 3,473,502 10/1969 Wittkamp....

3,601,076 8/1971 Meeks 9/2 A Primary ExaminerTrygve M.'Blix Assistant Examiner-Stuart M. Goldstein [57] ABSTRACT A hydrofoil attachment, preferably collapsible, is provided, for use with an inflatable boat. It comprises a frame, usually a four-sided frame, into which the boat fits, and preferably the boat on inflation fits tight into the frame so that the two are held together. Hydrofoils are attached vto the frame at various locations, but they are usually found at the corners of the frame.

1 Claim, 16 Drawing Figures PATmrEmm 4 m4 3310.268

1 suit-Hi n s.

MENTEDMAY 14 @914 sum 5 0F 6 1 HYDROFOIL ATTACHMENT FOR BOATS This application is a streamlined continuation of Weihe US. Pat. Ser. No. 773,476, filed Nov. 5, I968 (abandoned).

The invention relates to a hydrofoil frame for inflatable boats, the combination of such an attachment to a boat, and to the method of fastening the frame to a boat. The frame is advantageously collapsible. The hydrofoils may be readily removed from the frame, and replaced on it.

Inflatable boats are used quite extensively on lakes and inland waterways, particularly in Europe and the sport is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. A usual type of construction comprises an inflatable tubular member 'at each side, and often the front is also inflatable. A transom may be provided at the rear of such boats. The invention will be described more particularly in connection with such a boat, but the invention is not limited to any particular inflatableboat construction.

The outer surfaces of the sides of the inflatable portion of an inflatable boat are usually straight. Such boats are made largely of an elastomericor rubbercoated fabric. The hydrofoil frame of this invention is usually designed to fit against these sides so that the inflatable sides when inflated press against the frame and the frame thereby is attached to the boat.

There are several reasons for the popularity of inflatable boats:

I. They are inexpensive compared to other boats of the same capacity.

2. They require much less storage space than other boats.

3. They can be transported by an automobile; no

trailer being required.

The waves produced by motor and excursion boats which frequent rivers and lakes located in recreation areas, and by barges and tugs which frequent commercial waterways, easily capsize inflated boats. The danger of capsizing is immeasurably decreased, and the safety of the boats is immeasurably increased by providing them with hydrofoils.

In order that the hydrofoil frame may be readily transported, the frame is preferably made collapsible, into a package of smaller or larger cross section, and the hydrofoils may be removable or collapsible. In its collapsed form the frame can readily be transported even by a compact automobile.

The invention is further described in connection with the accompanying drawings which show a boat with a rectangular frame, but the invention is equally applicable to other frames. In the drawings FIG. I is a side view of a boat equipped with a collapsible hydrofoil frame;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the frame;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the same;

FIG. 5 is a section through an inflated side member of the boat on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged detail of the front of the frame shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a front view of the same on the line 77 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of the middle of the right side of the frame;

FIG. 9 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of the left side of the frame;

FIG. 10 is a section on the line 10l0 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of the front right corner of the frame;

FIG. 12 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of the front left corner of the frame;

FIG. 13 is a side view of one end member and illustrates how the sides of the frame can be folded toward the middle;

FIG. 14 illustrates the relation of the various side members when the frame is collapsed by bringing two sides of the frame together; and

FIGS. 15 and 16 show modifications in which the hydrofoils are differently located.

The drawings show a boat 5 which comprises a straight inflated tube 6 along each side. These sides may be separately inflatable, but usually they will be connected so that they are inflated from the same air source together with the prow of the boat which is formed of inflated sections 8, 9, l0 and 11. his to be understood that the outer surfaces of the various sections need not be straight; and if the sections 6 are not straight, the sides of the frame 15 and 16 usually will not be straight. These inflatable sections are all formed of waterproofed fabric, usually without any stiffening members of other composition. The bottom 17 is rigid-usua1ly formed of wood-and together with the rigid transom 18 gives rigidity to the boat when in- ,flate'd. These rigid elements are easily removed from the inflatable portion of the boat for storage and transportation, although it is conceivable that all parts of the boat will be irremovably fastened together.

The area of the frame is slightly less than the area of the boat when inflated, so that the frame is united to the frame on inflation, due to indentation of an inflated portion or portions of the boat, as illustrated in FIG. 5. A strap 19 with snap connections may be provided, but may not be necessary.

In the drawing, the prow of the boat is covered at 20 with waterproofed fabric, fitted with a windshield 22 which may be held in shape by stiffeners (not shown). The stern of the boat is held in shape by the transom l8 notched at 27 to accommodate a motor.

The hydrofoil frame comprises upper side members 15 and 16, and lower side members 32a, 32b (FIGS. 3 and 13) and 33a, 33b (FIG. 14).

FIG. 13 shows the side member 32a, 32b hinged in the middle so thesides of the frame can be folded together, and the other side member 33a, 33b is similarly hinged.

The hydrofoils 35 are shown as being removably attached to the extensions 37 of the front and rear members 38 and 39 of the frame. They are provided at their tops with pins 40 which extend through collars 42 fastened to the respective ends of the extensions 37 of the cross members 38 and 39. Pins 40 are suitably retained in collars 42 by thumbscrews 36.

The members 32a and 32b are pivotally attached to lugs 45 (FIG. 6) on cross members 38 and 39 by means of pins 46. The side members 15 and 16 are provided at their respective ends with collars (FIG. 6) which are passed over pins 51 affixed to the respective members 38 and 39.

The pins 54 (FIG. 6) pass through openings in the collars 50 and the pins 51, and are held in place by thumbscrews 55. Struts are fastened at one end to the respective hydrofoils and angle upwardly to the frame where they are fastened to the collars 50 by thumbscrews 36. By removing the thumbscrews 36 the I struts are detached from the frame and the members 15 and 16 with their attached collars are easily removed from the balance of the frame so that the portion of the frame which remains can be readily collapsed by folding one half on to the other, as will be explained.

As most clearly shown in FIG. 8, the two portions 32a and 32b of the side members are suitably hinged together by the pins 65. The center member 68 which extends from one side of the frame to the other, below the boat, is pivotally attached at one end to the member 320 through the lug 69 by pin 70. The other end of this center member 68 is pivotally attached to the lug 72 (FIG. fastened to the member 330. The angled members 75 and 76 which also extend from one side of the frame to the other, below the boat, are fastened at one end to lugs 77 and 78 (FIG. 10) and at the other end are fastened to lugs 80 (FIG. 11) at the corners of the frame. These lugs 77 and 78 are pivotally connected by screw assembly 82 which is removed when the frame is collapsed as illustrated in FIG. 14. The angled members 75 and 76 are pivotally fastened to the lugs 80 by the pin assemblies 83. Instead of removing the pin 82, the pins 83 and 70 might be removed to collapse the frame.

As illustrated in FIG. 13, the side members are pivoted at their middles so that one half of the frame can be folded on to the other half after first removing the members 15 and 16.

In FIG. 14, the dotted-line position of certain of the members indicates the position they occupy prior to folding; the dot-dash lines indicate the position they occupy during folding; and the solid lines indicate the position of the frame in its completely folded position. The hydrofoils may first all be removed, but it will be obvious from FIG. 14 that the two hydrofoils at the end of the folded frame need not be removed.

In FIG. 14, angled members and 76 are shown with the center member 68, but before collapsing the pin 82 is removed and, for convenience, the collapsed frame is shown without the member 68 which may be removed by removing the pin 70, although this is not essential. The side members 15 and 16 are not shown because showing them would complicate the drawing. They may be removed before collapsing the frame as illustrated in FIG. 14, but this is not necessary.

Thus the frame may be collapsed either by folding the sides. one on to the other, or pivoting the frame at two corners to bring two sides together. There are many other ways in which a frame may be collapsed.

Although four hydrofoils are common on a rectangular frame, only three are necessary. FIG. 15 shows a frame with a single hydrofoil at the front and two hydrofoils 91 at the rear. An alternative arrangement is shown in FIG. 16, with two hydrofoils 95 at the front and a single hydrofoil 96 at the rear. Other arrangements are possible on a rectangular frame. Alternatively, the frame may be triangular or any desired shape.

I claim:

1. An inflatable boat and rectangular, collapsible frame; the boat comprising two inflated, elongated side members supported on a rigid bottom, the frame comprising two lower collapsible side members which are pivoted to front and back cross members which extend outwardly from the side members and support hydrofoils, two upper side members extending along the sides of the frame and removably attached to the aforesaid lower side members of the frame, the sides of the inflated side members of the boat being indented by inflation against said lower side members.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CURECTION Patent No. 5, 8 Bat d y a 97 Inventor(s) DOD. L0 Weihe' It is pertified that error appears in the above identified pawlmnt and that said Le tters Eatent are hereby coxmcted as shuwn below:

In Column 1 Line k "Hos, Pat. Sero Neg" should r'ead M U05.

Seam NOE-'0 Signed and sealed-this 39th day of November 197%,

(SEAL) Attests MQCQY Mo GIBSON JR.. Atts sating Officer- C. MARSHALL DANN v Commissioner of Patents 

1. An inflatable boat and rectangular, collapsible frame; the boat comprising two inflated, elongated side members supported on a rigid bottom, the frame comprising two lower collapsible side members which are pivoted to front and back cross members which extend outwardly from the side members and support hydrofoils, two upper side members extending along the sides of the frame and removably attached to the aforesaid lower side members of the frame, the sides of the inflated side members of the boat being indented by inflation against said lower side members. 